Fair Work Amendment Bill 2012 passed by the House of Representatives

Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten's Fair Work
Amendment Bill 2012 (Bill) has been passed by
the House of Representatives.

The Bill introduces the first stage of amendments to the
Fair Work Act 2009 (Act) announced by Mr
Shorten on 15 October 2012 in response to the Fair Work Act Review Panel's
report.

In addition to implementing a number of recommendations of the
Review Panel, the Bill also implements the government's response to
the Productivity Commission Inquiry into default superannuation
funds in modern awards.

There are four key elements to the Bill:

changes to the unfair dismissal regime:
including aligning the timeline for making unfair dismissal claims
and general protections claims to 21 days and extending slightly
the capacity to have costs awarded against a party;

changes to the structure and operation of Fair Work
Australia: including renaming Fair Work Australia to the
'Fair Work Commission' (FWC), creating two new
Vice President positions and expanding the powers of the President
to deal with complaints against tribunal members;

establishing an expert panel to conduct the
annual minimum wage review and to determine the most suitable funds
to be listed as default funds in modern awards; and

other technical and clarifying amendments such
as prohibiting opt-out clauses in enterprise agreements and
clarifying notification requirements for scope order
applications.

Overall, the Bill represents some
incremental changes to the Act. According to Mr Shorten, '…this
is not the last step…' and none of the remaining
recommendations of the Review Panel have been ruled out.